


Where Are You?

by ClarissaGeorge



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Baggage, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2019-09-28 00:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClarissaGeorge/pseuds/ClarissaGeorge
Summary: Keith is technically a criminal. He and Pidge work for The Blade of Marmora a wanted group of vigilantes who have taken matters of the Galra into their own hands. The Galra are a vicious group that have been steadily taking over the country and leaving destruction in their wake. Keith and Pidge joined; Keith because he had no home, no family and no place to go, Pidge because she needed a hobby. Everything was going just fine until Lance, the gorgeous seemingly uninterested Cuban boy that Keith had been crushing on, found out their secret and Pidge was kidnapped. With Keith in danger and Pidge MIA, will Voltron ever defeat the Galra and save their friend or will the Galra forever remain supreme?





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I feel bad for no finishing my other Voltron story so I'm making this one with my favorite ship. Enjoy!

Keith was bored out of his mind. He had just come out of class and was sitting at some weird café. Despite the friendly vibe it gave off it blared heavy metal music. He didn’t complain because that’s what he usually listened to anyway and they got most of his favorite songs down. The floors were a spotless light brown wood, the walls were all either black mirrors or clear glass, there was a pleasant smell wafting from the back that made Keith think of his dad, but he quickly shook his head to clear his head of those thoughts.

Suddenly the door swung open and a small girl came in grumbling. She was wearing a pink and blue dress. Her hair was in a bun, her feet in heels, and makeup on her face. Her face was slightly flushed as she had a bulky laptop held securely underneath her arm.

“Do you have them?” The girl stomped up at him, dropping the computer on the table, and crossing her arms.

“Sure, Kathrine.” Keith snorted handing her a small black bag.

“My name isn’t even Kathrine, you dumbass. It’s Katie and I told you not to call me that. It’s Pidge.” She snarked, swatting at his nose.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” Pidge huffed storming off toward the bathroom. Keith wiped the smirk off of his face and walked over to the counter. The café sure emptied out quickly.

He looked up at the menu deciding he wanted a black coffee and a banana muffin just as a boy burst out of the back room and the music abruptly changed form some Metallica song to some soft music that fit the vibe of café a lot better.

“Hey! Hunk! That was so rude! My music was good, and you even said so yourself that my taste was good!” The Latino boy screeched to some person in the back room but when he was greeted with silence he huffed and turned to Keith who was looking unamused.

“Hi, sorry! I’m Lance. Hey, quick question, my music, the stuff that was being played **_and sounded great,_** what did you think?”

Keith glanced up at the menu, then at the bathrooms, then back at ‘Lance’.

“Uh, good? They were mostly my favorite songs, so…,” Keith was stupefied by this guy asking him a question.

“See guys! My music is good!” Lance shouted triumphantly.

“He said that they were his favorite songs though. You can’t really-,” A warm voice that sound exasperated called back but was cut off my Lance.

“Ah! No! My music is good, and we have a customer!” Keith pulled out his phone and checked the time just as Pidge came out of the bathroom.

“All right let’s get going, Keith.”

It was 3:26 and they had exactly four minutes to get to the garage. Keith groaned and flashed Lance a glare who looked confused.

“Fuck. Yeah okay. Didn’t eat all day and now I’ll just eat an air sandwich for dinner.” Keith grumbled to himself as he pulled out three dollars and put it in the tip jar.

Pidge handed the bag back to Keith and ran a hand through her hair. It was out of that brain-cell-killing bun and she had changed her clothes as well as wiped off all of her makeup. She wore a black sweatshirt with a cream-colored skull with a pink and green flower crown on it cranium. Her pants were bright green and black legging and green converse that matched her pants.

He sighed, raised a hand for goodbye to Keith, and opened the door for Pidge.

“Hey, wait-,” The door shut off the rest of Lance’s calling and Keith walked over to his motorcycle.

Pidge had taken a bus from her family brunch straight to…. Keith looked back at the café and saw in bright multicolored letters ‘VOLTRON’.

He let a small smile as he handed Pidge a spare helmet as he put on his own red one. He put the bag in the front of him as Pidge climbed on, hands on his shoulders, and helmet knocking against his own.

He gave a quick glance back as he revved the engine and took off. In exactly five minutes he was on his way into the garage, which was actually more of a warehouse, but he just shrugged.

“I’m here, don’t-,” Keith started just as a knife landed a few inches above his shoulder. The warehouse was dark, and no lights were on. You could only see from the small windows that didn’t offer much light at all.

“You’re late.” A voice growled out from the dark. He rolled his eyes, taking a few steps forward bringing Pidge with him.

“Yes, I do know that Kolivan, but it’s only 3:31.” Keith sassed as the man came forward.

Kolivan was a large man. War paint of red and dark purple and a deep frown that seemed etched in his face.

“Who’s the small boy?” Kolivan grunted, arms crossed, but Keith knew better than to relax. Kolivan had large throwing knifes everywhere and one of those places were underneath his armpits.

“Um, Excuse you. First of all, I’m a girl, General Grouchy. Get your genders correct. And second, calm your tits. I’m a hacker. Keith brought me to help out your incompetent gang, but since you are so rude, I could just leave.” Pidge growled out, not afraid to unleash her annoyance.

Kolivan’s eyebrows quirked and his expression changed marginally, but to Keith who’s known Kolivan for years knew that he was impressed. Keith was impressed himself, but not surprised. Pidge was known throughout the university for her temper. Well, her temper and her brother.

“No, that won’t be necessary. We apologize.” A woman came out of the darkness three people in hoods and three-eye holed masks.

Keith and she shared a matching smirk as Pidge looked between the two of them, connecting dots in her head.

The woman had a darker completion than Keith, but not by much. She was muscular, from what Pidge could see in her grey and orange skin tight suit and thigh-high boots that ended right underneath her bottom.

“Mom.”

“Keith.” Krolia smiled in greeting. “So, what was your name?” Krolia said, walking forward to Pidge, who’s eyes widened.

“Pidge.” Pidge answered shortly, breaking eye contact.

“Well, Pidge, do you know of out mission? What you’ll be doing on it?”

“You need help breaking into the medical lab on 82nd street. You need to be in and out as quickly and quietly as possible, which means about 10 minutes or less. No alarms need to be going off. You already have blueprints for the layout of the building, but I couldn’t help with getting an updated version because you have the standard one. There’s another room. A panic room that’s hidden between a lab and a storage room. I have what doors need to be unlocked and what guards are being posted where as well as, phew, hold on,” Pidge rambled on, running out of breath. “Okay, so I know what you need, but I also have the rooms that have the formula for the medicine that you need. I tapped into the security cameras as well. Just incase some gets sloppy and shifted them a bit so that they have blind spots. Hold on, I have my laptop. I’ll show you. It can’t be traced. I made sure of that. The blueprints are also on there as well.”

Suddenly, candles were getting lit around the warehouse and Pidge started to see how many people there actually were.

There were six groups. The distributors, the masterminds, the muscle, the stealth, the healers and the hackers.

The muscle and stealth worked together. They made up most of The Blade of Marmora. They were the spies and infiltrators. They stole and fought. They killed and did the heavy lifting. The ones out in the field. The getaway drivers who got everyone out safe and sound. However, stealth is usually the ones who slip in quietly. Their body type is slim, but fit. Muscle are the ones who smash everything to pieces and protect the spies, if they need protection, which they usually don’t, or transport the heavy, big stuff to the van.

The hackers were people like Pidge. They broke down security, exposed blind spots, unlocked doors, and were the ones who helped pull off all of their missions. They, however, were the smallest group consisting of only Regris and Vrek, but unfortunately, Regris had died months earlier. Vrek wasn’t an actual hacker. He was a coder. He coded things and changed websites and did whatever a hacker could not. Regris was a hacker who went inside. Vrek wasn’t. Regris crawled through vents and locked down doors so that when they were getting chased, he could help and see everything. That was also how he died.

The distributors weren’t in immediate danger. They only needed to get to and from the drop off point. They had vans for the bigger stuff. Cars and motorcycles were what they usually used.

The healers were pretty self-explanatory. If it was minor like a gun shot wound or something of that sort, they patched you up. Cuts, scrapes, anything non-life-threatening, they had your back. If it was suspicious and life-threatening, like a lot of gun shot wounds or there was shrapnel inside of you or your throat was slit, then they have people that work in the hospital who didn’t ask questions.

The masterminds were people like Krolia and Kolivan. They made up the plans, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have any fun. They sometimes infiltrated, sometimes distributed, sometimes are the muscle and stealth crew. They didn’t really have a designated place.

Pidge had walked over to the frame of a car and opened her laptop. She quickly typed in an intricate password, went through several firewalls that she set up for herself and typed in another password to open a folder. A folder which every single item on it had a password. Keith smiled pulling on his fingerless gloves and walking over to where Pidge was.

After a few minutes there was a blue print. A very detailed blueprint with details on what was in the rooms and where the guards rotated that made the Blade blueprint look like a child had drawn it.

She spent the next few hours talking about the blueprint and what she was planning to do as well as getting them to give her a tour of the place.

It was a three-room warehouse/garage. The main room, where they came in, was the garage. It wasn’t theirs. Only using it temporarily. The garage was littered in car parts, grease, and tools that haven’t been touched in weeks. The Blades only stay in one place long enough to carry out a job. They take a not super far off, but occupied place, pretend to shut it down for gas leakage, faulty wiring, or health regulations. They do find those things first or they made those things an issue and shut the place down. When they finish their mission, they call have a person who fixes those issues and calls the owners back.

The floor throughout the place was grey concrete a suspicious amount of dried blood on the floor, but it wasn’t Keith’s job to ask questions. The other room, the warehouse had a boxing ring hidden behind a lot of heavy crates and junk. There was a gym with almost homemade gym equipment, but some of it looked expensive. The last room was just a bathroom. Or more like a locker-room with the number of bathroom showers and stalls.

“Keith.” A voice broke it out of his stupor. Keith jerked in surprise and quickly wiped the drool from his mouth.

“Mm.” Keith groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes wondering how long he was out for.

“The small girl, Pidgeon-,” Ilun, another Blade, pushed up her round glasses and scratched behind her ears.

“It’s Pidge.” Keith grumbled out, standing up and stretching. Apparently, he fell asleep sitting crisscross applesauce against nothing.

“The small _Pidge_ is asleep, and we don’t know how to wake her.” Ilun continued as Keith looked up at her from where he was standing. It took a minute for him to process that, but when he did his eyes widened in horror.

“Where is she?” Keith frantically, looking around and seeing Pidge asleep on top of a car, her arms splayed out as she was prodded by multiple Blades.

He sprinted to where she was and knocked an airhorn out of a nearby Blades hands.

“No! Don’t wake her up. She’ll kill you.” Keith whispered harshly. The Blades all raised a cynical eyebrow, except for the ones that always had their masks on, but Keith could see the skepticism in their stance.

Keith rolled his eyes and took off his jacket and pulled down the collar of his shirt to show a thick scar. It was maybe five inches long and thin. Technically, it wasn’t Pidge’s fault. It was from a motorcycle accident that he caused because he got surprised from her horrified screaming when he went fast. They didn’t need to know that, and Pidge was terrifying when she gets woken up. She would kill someone and get away with too.

Once they had seen his scar, they all nodded and backed off leaving Keith and Pidge to themselves.

Keith pulled out his phone and almost passed out. It was midnight. He was asleep for a good eight hours. That never happened. He could barely get three hours when he actually tried to get sleep. He shrugged on his jacket and walked closer to Pidge.

Carefully, Keith slid Pidge onto his back and grabbed their things before slipping out. Most of the candles were out only a few stragglers and a few Blades that stayed wherever they could because thy didn’t have a home.

Keith put Pidge on the front of his motorcycle and climbed on behind her. Putting on their helmets, he made sure Pidge was secure and quickly drove off to her apartment. He drove slowly as he pulled up to her building.

He’s done this before when she falls asleep like that. He had never met her roommates before, but he does know that she has two. Pidge had skipped the fourth and ninth grade. She was eighteen and in her second year of college which was pretty impressive. He was in his last and four years older than her.

He stepped off of the elevator and walked to her apartment. He fished her key out of the bag and opened the door. He walked through trying to be quiet, but Pidge tightened her grip on his neck and scared him into swerving into the wall and hitting his hip on the table and almost dropping Pidge.

“Ah shit! Shit! Huhhhh.” Keith groaned, adjusting his grip on Pidge as he suddenly hopped around the corner and there were five people in the living room, all seemingly just waking up now.

“What the hell?” A voice said as all of them rose to their feet. Keith must have looked mighty suspicious carrying their unconscious roommate while wearing all black minus his huge red NASA jacket at twelve at night.

“Who are you?” A woman’s voice was heard, and Keith’s gaze swung to her. She was a solid woman packed with muscle, but also looked soft. She had two dark brown messy buns behind her ears with had huge thick hoop earrings. She looked a threatening with her huge fists that would probably knock him through the floor. She was only wearing a brown t-shirt and boxers and seemed to be with the man beside her. He looked mildly threatening with his stature and all. He was also only wearing pajama pants and had an orange strip of fabric around his head.

“Uh, hi. I’m Keith. A friend, of sorts. A friend of Pidge.” Keith who had no idea why he was stumbling over his words. He was used to talking to people in compromising situations.

“Holy-! Keith!” Lance shouted underneath a mass of blanket as he burrowed himself out of.

“Keith?” Echoed a familiar voice. Keith took a step backwards as he recognized the familiar white tuft of hair, although now it was all white.

Now everyone was standing and staring at Keith who was starting to get extremely nervous.

“Shiro. Hi.” Keith mumbled as he felt Shiro’s judgmental gaze lock on to him.

Keith made eye contact the brown-skinned guy and tilted his back to motion towards Pidge.

“Oh! I’m Hunk,” the guy voiced, standing up. “This is Shiro and Lance, although they seem to know you already. This beau-uh, this is Shay, Allura, and Romelle.” Hunk motioned to the people and took Pidge off of Keith’s back and Keith slumped in relief. He loved Pidge and all, but she weighed the equivalent of a small planet.

Shiro stood up, his face a mask of disbelief and a little anger.

“Keith. Where did you go? Why’d you leave?”

“I-I didn’t really have a choice.” Keith mumbled, ducking his head and avoiding eye contact. Keith started backing up as he saw questioning and judgmental gazes. Usually he would get angry and defensive, but finally seeing Shiro again after disappearing for a year drained him.

Sensing the conflict, Allura, the tall, brown skinned-white-haired rich girl, opened her mouth to speak, but Pidge’s groaning drew his attention.

“Mmh, Kolivan’s a real bitch. He wouldn’t get-oh.” Pidge’s eyes cracked open as she pursed her lips.

“Who’s Kolivan?” Lance asked, shifting around and glancing between Pidge and Keith suspiciously.

“Uh-,” Keith mumbled, glancing down at his toes then at Pidge.

“It doesn’t matter. Keith, get out. I’ll talk to you whenever.” Pidge grumbled stretching at walking to her room as Keith nodded and slipped out of the door.

If you asked Keith this and even showed him video evidence, he would deny it but Keith sprinted to his motorcycle and sped off to his apartment, thoroughly embarrassed and pissed with himself. He was a wimp acting not at all like his usual self. Maybe it was from seeing Shiro or finally getting a good night sleep for the first time since his dad died. It was probably that cute Latino guy from the café and the shock of seeing him again.

Once Keith took a quick shower, pulled on his boxer briefs, and fell into bed, he shrugged and turned onto his side. It didn’t matter all that much anyway. It was his last year in the space program and this would probably be his last job with The Blade of Marmora. He would leave and travel around the world and travel around in space, never to see these people ever again.

Little did he know that the universe doesn’t care what Keith thinks he wants.


	2. The (Hospital) Visit

Keith hadn’t seen Pidge all week. He called her. He called Matt. He called her parents. It was like she had disappeared from the face of the planet.

It was six in the morning and Keith couldn’t sleep. He came home from work at four in the morning, took a shower, and fell asleep. Then he heard a loud bang that woke him up and he’s been awake for the last hour or so.

His work at the gym was tiring. He sparred for money. Boxing, that is. He did it to stay in shape, but also to distract himself. He had too many problems and not enough solutions, or money, for those problems.

For example, his apartment. Keith looked around at his room. He sighed and got up to get dressed.

His room was probably the only room in his place that was properly furnished. He had a queen-sized bed, a dresser, clothes in his closet, a lamp, and a bedside table. That was basically all he really needed. The rest of the apartment was a different story. Keith walked out of his room in a bright red hoodie and black joggers. His living room had a wall-mounted television, one of the newest gaming consoles (Pidge insisted), and a chair. That’s it. No couch, no book shelf, no rug. Just the cold, unforgiving hardwood floor.

He had three photos up in that room. One with his dad and him. Keith flashing one of his rare smiles, his two front teeth weren’t grown in, but Keith was happy. Genuinely happy, something he hadn’t been in years. The second picture was him and Pidge. Pidge was on Keith’s back, grinning so hard it seemed like her face would split in half. Keith wasn’t smiling, but his eyes were happy. They were back in high school and Pidge had hacked into the online ticket thing to get tickets for the new amusement park.

The last picture was one of him and Shiro. Neither of them was looking at the camera because they were trapped in their own world. Keith’s dad had taken the picture without them knowing. Shiro was giving Keith a snow cone covered in so much red syrup it looked like blood. Keith had gotten in yet another fight because Keith was one of the only loner students, not like he really cared. Keith was small, had no backup, and looked like an easy target.

Keith tore his eyes away from the pictures and went to his small kitchen. The one where there was no table, only a counter that wasn’t even the one where you could sit an eat. He opened the fridge and all he saw was an empty jug of milk, three sticks of butter, some lettuce (from when he attempted to be healthy), and ketchup.

He closed the door with a heavy sigh and grabbed his keys and phone. Tugging on his boots, he ran out of the house, hopped on his bike, and drove to the nearest coffee shop…which _just_ happened to be Voltron. The place looked the same except there was a little more color. It seemed there were separate corners of the café. White booths with blue accessories and flowers on the table. The entire counter where you got served was yellow. The wall near the door didn’t have black mirrors and was painted purple. Near the bathrooms were slashes of red. The high seats where Pidge probably would have loved to mess around on her computer were all green.

As he went up the counter a familiar face looked back at him.

“Welcome to…oh, uh hello there,” the white-haired girl said.

“Hi. Can I get a large coffee? Black, please?”

Allura was still for a moment before nodding slowly and getting to work.

“For here or to go…uh, Kent?” Allura asked. Keith fished around his pockets for a couple of dollar bills that he smacked down on the counter.

“For here,” Keith replied. “And it’s Keith. Keith Kogane.”

“Ah, right.”

They drifted into an awkward silence as Allura finished up the coffee. Just before she put the lid on it, she accidently bumped a stray container of cinnamon and a large clump fell into his drink, but unfortunately Allura didn’t notice.

“Here it is.” Allura handed Keith his coffee, smiling brightly.

“Thanks. Is this enough? It might not be, I don’t really know the prices all that well.”

Keith took a small sip as Allura counted the money. A customer came in and stood behind Keith, waiting.

“It is. Is there anything else I can get you?”

“No.” Keith said shortly, surprising Allura. Allura wasn’t one to be pretentious, but she was a little surprised Keith didn’t ask for her number or something like that. Most men, and some women, tried.

“Oh! Okay, then. Enjoy!” Allura’s eyebrows furrowed. Keith was strange. No smiles, not even a nod in acknowledgement.

Allura tended to her customer as Keith sat down and drank his coffee, taking out his phone and began texting Pidge.

A few minutes later, after Allura had served her customer, who left, someone came out of the back.

“Hey, Allura, what do you call a mix between an angel and a-,” Lance stopped suddenly looking at Keith.

“Rival! Keith, you’re here!” Lance shouted out, surprising Keith back to reality.

“Wha-rival? I-,” Keith cut off, licking his lips. In the light, Lance could see Keith’s lips swelling and his face steadily getting redder.

“Hey Keith?” Lance moved from behind the counter.

“Uh?” Keith turned and wheezed at Lance. His throat was closing, and he felt extremely nauseous all of a sudden. He didn’t know what was happening, but then it hit him.

“Hey, Keith, buddy. You okay there? You’re looking a little…red.”

“Thinnabon?” Keith wheezed out looking at Allura, who understood what he was saying.

“No. It was just a straight black coffee, just like you asked.” Allura looked around the counter space where she prepared his coffee but saw an overturned container of cinnamon and a distinctly cup shaped, clean space where the cinnamon was freckled around.

“Oh. There was cinnamon. It must have been knocked over. Do you have an Epi-pen? Or do you just need an allergy pill?”

Lance and Allura suddenly started to ask him questions. Too many questions for him to answer with a rapidly closing throat. So, he did what he could do.

Keith stood up suddenly, making his head spin. The Cuban boy and the white-haired girl immediately were silenced and

“Pidge.” Keith huffed before passing out, hives breaking out on his neck and on his face.

*******Three hours later….

Keith awoke to a very persistent beeping sound. He cracked open his eyes, immediately regretting it since the bright lights almost blinded him.

Slowly, Keith opened his eyes again and took in his surroundings. He was in a hospital bed with a blue curtain around his area and a scratchy hospital blanket on his hospital gown covered chest. He momentarily panicked as he thought of some rando doctor seeing him scar-covered and mostly naked.

He slowly sat up, and pulled down the blanket, sighing in relief that he still had his pants on, but then wondered where his sweatshirt was. He coughed as he realized he had a breathing mask on his face and pulled it off, just as a nurse walked around the curtain to see Keith.

“Oh! You’re awake. That’s good because you gave us quite a scare with almost dying and stuff.” She giggled, seemingly only a few years older than him.

“Yeah, uh. Who brought me here?” Keith scratched his head in confusion because the last thing he remembers seeing was Lance’s horrified face as he fainted.

The nurse was near him and started listening to his breathing as Keith thought of what happened and his face lit up in embarrassment.

“Oh, are you shy?” The nurse flirted. Her boobs were practically pressed up against Keith as she batted her eyelashes. “Am I making you nervous?”

Keith’s eyebrows suddenly drew in as the nurse flirted with him.

“Uh, no.”

“Yeah right, cutie! I don’t usually do this, but-,”

“Keith!” Lance threw open the curtain and strode over to Keith.

“Lance,” Keith said before he looked at the nurse who had a predatory look in her eye. “My _boyfriend_ , Lance! Thank goodness you’re here…babe?”

Lance was caught off guard as Keith reached out towards him, but finally caught on when Keith shot a desperate look and a quick nod of the head to the nurse.

“What? Oh. I mean, yeah! Babe, thank goodness you’re okay!” Lance sat on the bed and took Keith hand, awkwardly intertwining their fingers.

“Oh! You’re-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to-I’ll call in the doctor now.” The nurse scurried out of the room, ears firetruck red.

As soon as she left, Keith sighed and let go of Lance’s hand. There was an awkward pause before Lance spoke.

“So, babe-,” Lance teased, which caused Keith to glare at him.

“I just wasn’t interested in her. She’s not exactly my type.” Keith mumbled causing Lance to raise an eyebrow.

“Why? Too old? Too blonde? To chesty? Not chesty enough? Too bold?” Lance listed smirking and getting up in Keith’s face.

“No. Too female.” Keith rolled his eyes and licked his lips. They started to tingle again.

“Oh!” Lance was taken aback, but quickly realized how he sounded and backtracked.  “No! Not oh like bad oh. I meant that. I mean-So you-never mind. But, uh me too. Not all the way, but about half,” Lance paused. “Because I like both. Guys and-,”

“Lance.”

“Yeah.”

“I got it.”

“Oh. Um, okay then.” Lance felt his face get hot and turned away from Keith. Luckily, before the silence got too uncomfortable the doctor came in.

“Hey, I am Doctor Towle. How’re you feeling today, Keith?” A large man came in; broad shouldered, tanned skin, and brown-haired. He had a southern drawl and day-old stubble marring his face.

“Oh! I’m-,” When Keith actually looked at the doctor, his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and started to water.

“Keith?” Lance asked, but Keith shrank into the bed, and shook his head.

“Keith?” The doctor asked, but Keith slid out of the bed, clumsy and head-spinning. Lance immediately got up and held Keith’s arm to steady him.

The Half-Korean boy swatted Lance’s grip away and looked at the IV drip on his arm. He grabbed ahold of it and walked with it to the front desk.

“C-Can I be discharged? My name, um, I’m Keith Kogane and I’m fine, so can I be discharged? Please?”

The lady at the desk looked confused but nodded.

“Do you have a parent or guardian with you today?”

“I’m, uh, twenty-two. An adult. I’ve been to the hospital before so can I just get the papers and leave.”

“Did you-,”

“Keith! You can’t just run off like that you had an allergic reaction and-,” Lance came up out of nowhere. He trailed off though when he saw Keith’s expression.

“Hey. What’s wrong?”

Lance reached out and put his hand on Keith’s arm and Keith let a few tears slip out. Keith sniffled and shook his head.

“Nothing. I, um, I just want to go home.”

Lance wasn’t buying it, but let it go.

“You should get checked out first.” Keith looked like he was going to protest but gave up and nodded.

He sat back on the bed as the confused doctor checked him out.

“Any allergies to any medicines?”

“No. The only thing I’m allergic to is cinnamon,” Keith said in a small voice.

The checkup continued for another half hour before the doctor gave him a prescription.

“Normally, we’d hold ya for another day or so, but you haven’t given any signs of a biphasic reaction, so I can discharge ya. Do you live with anyone or do you have any family members that can watch ya today and throughout the night?”

“Yeah, my-,” Keith broke off, thinking of his mom, then Pidge, and finally Shiro. “Um, no. I, uh, I don’t.”

“Okay, then. If ya don’t then we might need to rethink that-,” Seeing Keith’s panicked expression as the doctor spoke, Lance cut in.

“I can watch him. I don’t have any classes today or tomorrow and I can get Hunk to cover my shift.” Keith said more to Keith than to the doctor.

“Okay then. I’ll get the papers and your stuff and y’all can just… yeah.”

Dr. Towle walked off and Lance sat beside Keith on the bed.

“Thanks.” Keith said.

“No problem.”

Once Keith got discharged, he walked out only to see Krolia, Pidge, Pidge’s mom (who was in the car), Allura, and Shiro standing there waiting for him.

“Keith!” Pidge said, before smiling up at him. “Why the hell are you at the hospital?”

“Allergic reaction. Why weren’t you answering my calls?”

“Matt, kind of, sort of, blew up my phone because Rover 2.0 peed on his laptop. So, we’ve both been grounded.”

“How-never mind. I know better than to ask. I have to talk to my mom.”

Pidge nodded and Keith ducked his head walking towards Krolia.

“Sorry.”

Krolia smiled sadly and put her hands-on Keith’s face, lifting his gaze.

“It’s okay. You’re fine.” Krolia reassured him. “Kolivan’s mad though.”

Keith cracked a smile and turned his sight on Allura who immediately flushed.

“Why are you here?” Keith’s voice came out sharper than he wanted it to, but Allura didn’t seem affected by it.

“Kevin-,” Allura started out.

“It’s Keith.” Keith and Shiro said at the same time.

Keith looked at Shiro who had a brotherly sort of concerned look on his face.

“No, it’s fine. I…can’t deal with this right now. I have a bus to catch.” Keith started to walk away but stopped. “And, um, It’s fine Allura. I know you didn’t mean it. I gotta go.”

Quickly waving bye to everyone, Keith walked briskly to catch the bus that was, thankfully, just rolling by.

He got a seat on the bus when Lance slid into the seat next to him.

“Wha-What are you doing?” Keith questioned, genuinely confused.

“I promised to stay with you today, remember?” The Cuban boy answered, smiling.

“Oh, I just-I thought you were just saying that.”

“No. You live by yourself, you could get…whatever the doctor said and die in the middle of the night.” Lance exclaimed, seemingly dead serious.

Keith was shocked for a moment before snorting out a laugh.

“Okay, well, I’m hungry. You want anything?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t eat anything because I rode in the ambulance and stayed in the hospital with you.”

Keith smiled, but stopped and looked at Lance strangely.

“You did?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Lance asked.

“Nothing. It’s just-Actually, never mind. Do you want to get, uh, McDonald’s or something?”

“Mc-No! Are you crazy? All that grease and carbs and chemicals would cause my skin to breakout! Like, it took weeks to get this skin looking this good again after the last _McDonald’s_ trip. I swear, I would think someone as good looking as you would have some sort of standards on what’s put in your body.” Lance ranted, glaring at Keith.

“Well, I don’t have-wait, good looking? What-?”

Lance scoffed and looked out the window. “Of course, that’s the only thing you took out of my speech. I am honestly appalled.” Lance grumbled.

“ _I am honestly_ _aPalLeD_.” Keith mocked, laughing.

Lance’s mouth fell open as he looked at Keith laughing at him.

“That’s it. We are now rivals. We have no chance of being friends now.” Lance said, dead serious, but Keith kept laughing.

Thirteen insults, three death threats, and a whole lot of laughing later, Lance and Keith got off of the bus and ended up at a grocery store.

“Lance, I don’t have any money.”

“Hush peasant. I need actual food, so I’ll just get it from the store and make it at your place.”

Keith opened his mouth to say something but decided against it and motioned for Lance to go first.

Once they got six bags of goods, Lance proposed to go back to his place.

“We can make food there. Unless you want to go back to your place and grab stuff for tonight and then make food.”

“No, we’re staying at my place tonight.” Keith said, crossing his arms as they climbed into a cab Keith called.

“Ha! No. My place has all of my things.” Lance protested.

“I don’t feel comfortable in some strange apartment with other people. Pidge snores too!” Keith countered. “I’m the sick one and you volunteered to watch over me.”

“Sick my ass. You’re fine.” Lance shouted back as they continued to argue until they made it to ‘VOLTRON’.

“Why are we here? I said, Hunk has my shifts covered.” Lance asked confused, all previous conversation forgotten.

“I have to pick up my ride.” Keith said as he walked across the street to his motorcycle.

“ _Hell_ no. Nu-uh. _No._ I am not getting on that thing.”

“Why not? I have helmets and I don’t even drive that fast.” Keith settled in the seat and put the groceries in the backpack that was, surprisingly, still there. He put the backpack on his front.

“Keith.” Lance warned but sat behind Keith anyway. Keith put his helmet on, and Lance did the same, scooting a little closer to Keith.

“Hold on and put your feet on the pedals up there.” Keith instructed as the bike roared to life.

“I got it. It’s not like it my first time on a motorcycle or anything.” Lance griped.

Then they were off, and Lance was screaming.

“STOOOOOOOOP! You are going to fast! KEITH!” Lance screeched, as Keith laughed and made his way to Lance’s apartment.

Once they stopped, Lance had his arms underneath the backpack and pressed against Keith like it would kill him to be separated.

Lance was shaking when he climbed off and Keith laughed in his face as he locked his motorcycle and walked in the building to Lance’s apartment.

“You are mean. You are the meanest. I don’t even know if I want to make you food anymore.” Lance said, once he overcame his shock and opened his apartment door.

Despite his previous comment, Lance immediately went to the kitchen and started preparing the kitchen to prepare the food.

Keith took off the backpack and handed the bags to Lance who was busy.

Keith didn’t have much to do, so he poked around the apartment. There were two bathrooms and three bedrooms.

Keith out that Pidge and Hunk share a bathroom and Lance has his own bathroom. Keith wondered why when he walked into Lance’s room, then bathroom and saw what seemed like a war scene.

Unidentified makeup and makeup products (Mascara, eyebrow pencil, lipstick, eyelash curler, highlight, beauty blender, concealer, a natural eyeshadow palate, foundation, setting spray, bronzer, makeup brushes, blush, eyeliner pencil), tweezers, at least a dozen different nail polishes, eight different face creams, face masks, oils, and face scrubbers littered the surface of his counter. There was also a blow dryer, scissors, a magnifying mirror, hand soap, hand lotion, and towel on his counter.

Candles were everywhere and there were five different body things next to the shower in a basket (body scrub, a loofa, conditioner, shampoo, and lotion).

It was like every single beauty supply store he’s ever seen threw up in Lance’s bathroom.

“Keith! Where’d you go? I need your help!” Keith heard Lance call.

Keith took one last look and went back to the kitchen.

“Where’d you run off to?” Lance questioned as he motioned for Keith to help him with something.

“I looked around. Found your room. Lots of products in your bathroom.” Keith said, as he helped Lance take some strangely wrapped food out of the oven.

“Yeah. I don’t wear all of that stuff though. I gave up on lipstick and eyeshadow a while ago. I only wear a little bit of make up now. Like, I don’t know, uh…,” Lance paused blowing out as he took the plantains off of the stove. “Highlight, foundation, concealer, eyebrows, mascara. That’s it. If I’m going somewhere super fancy or something, it’s the whole sha-bang. Most days, though, if I’m late I just go with highlight after I wash and moisturize my face.”

Lance put taquitos and plantains on two plates for him and Keith, who was shook.

“Wow.” Keith said, as Lance walked over to the couch and sat down. Keith sat beside him and dug in moaning at how good it was.

“Good?” Lance questioned as Keith eyes fluttered.

“Yeah.” Keith said with his mouth stuffed.

They finished their food in a comfortable silence.

“We can go to your house.” Lance finally said as he finished the last of his food.

“Huh?”

“I’ll stay at your place.” Lance repeated.

“Oh, okay. Cool.” Keith avoided Lance’s gaze and tapped his thighs. “Do you want to get your stuff?”

“Yeah, I’ll just be a minute. You can come with.”

The boys went to Lance’s room and Keith sat on Lance’s bed as the Cuban boy flitted around gathering clothes and cleaning up as he went.

There were pictures of Lance’s friends and family members on his dresser and nightstand. His room was fairly clean actually. Posters of space, some tropical country, and major cities were scattered on Lance’s blue walls.

There were glow stars on Lance’s ceiling and a few items of clothing on Lance’s floor.

Ten minutes later, Lance was done with a small duffle bag in hand.

“Why do you have so much stuff?” Keith questioned as they walked out to his motorcycle.

“Just in case I break out in the middle of the night. Also, I need options.”

“For pajamas?”

“Yes, for pajamas. I don’t know how hot or cold your apartment is.”

Keith shook his head and climbed onto his motorcycle, Lance behind him.

This time the ride was a lot more pleasant and Keith wasn’t trying to actively terrorize Lance.

They arrived at Keith’s apartment like building. It looked a lot larger than it actually was. It had stairs that led up to the one-story townhouse-apartment building. He had neighbors, but they had a different building. His was by itself.

“Wow, this is…,” Lance trailed off as he took in Keith’s horrible neighborhood. “Cool.”

Keith laughed, took the helmets, and went up the stairs to unlock the door. He turned on the lights and took off his shoes, putting the helmets on the ground. Lance was right behind him.

“Where are your pictures?!” Lance exclaimed, as he saw how barren Keith’s apartment was. “Wait. Where is your couch?! Where am I supposed to sleep? What? Is this a chair? What? I’m leaving. I’m going home. I cannot stay here any longer.” Lance rampaged, causing Keith to laugh.

“I’m sorry. It’s not funny. I’m actually poor.” Keith continued to laugh, sitting on the floor because he couldn’t stand anymore.

After a minute, Lance started laughing too. They both laughed so hard that they had tears in their eyes and were squirming on the floor.

“It’s not even funny, it’s sad.” Keith sighed, after he composed himself.

“Yeah. How do you have a whole flat-screen T.V. and a gaming console and like twenty games, but no couch?” Lance questioned to which Keith shrugged.

“I’m a college student living by myself.”

They both giggled a little more before Lance crawled over to the T.V. and turned it on. He hooked up the games and held out a controller toward Keith.

“You…game?” Lance laughed.

“No. That was a horrible pun.” Keith shook his head, trying to suppress a smile.

“No! I’m sorry, but seriously. You wanna play?”

Keith smiled.

“I’m game.”


	3. Oof. Embarrassment.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Evil laughter*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I don't own any of the things in this whole chapter. This whole story acually. I just wanted to say that. Okay, continue.

Keith laughed triumphantly as Lance lost at Mario Kart for the fifth time in a row. They had been playing games for hours. Once they both took quick showers, they sat in sweatpants and tank tops. Pidge somehow got Mario Kart to work on a Ps4. Her skills were unparalleled.

“You cheater! You came out of nowhere with that blue shell! And the bullet! You weren’t even in last place. How dare you?” Lance ranted, glaring at Keith.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of my wins!” Keith laughed, before he was tackled by Lance.

Keith grunted as Lance hovered over him, glaring.

Lance was straddling Keith stomach and his hands were on Keith’s throat. Not pressing hard or choking him, just resting there. Lance shifted glaring and unintentionally grinded on Keith.

Now, it might have been the alcohol and pizza they ordered from UberEATS or maybe Keith was just feeling bold, but the next thing that came out of Keith’s mouth was-

“Kinky. You trying to take this back to my room?” Keith winked from where he was on the floor, laughing.

Lance was the perfect shade of red now. Like it was Keith’s new favorite color. Keith wheezed trying to breathe as Lance practically flung himself off of Keith and coughed awkwardly.

“You wish.” Lance scoffed awkwardly, as he dug around in his duffle bag. Keith let out a few giggles and sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Okay, well we’ve played just about every game I have. It’s only 11, what do you want to do now?” Keith asked.

“I was waiting for you to ask that.” Lance smirked, triumphantly all previous embarrassment gone. “We will do, drum roll please. Bum badda bum! A skin care routine!”

Lance wiggled around excitedly as Keith gave him a dead pan look.

“No.”

“Wha-Come on. It’ll be fun.” Lance insisted.

“No, my skin’s really sensitive-,” Keith started to say, but soap landed in his lap.

“Yeah, yeah.”

After a few minutes of protest from Keith, Lance finally dragged Keith to the bathroom.

“Wow. It _is_ nice in here,” Lance said, in shock until he saw Keith’s face. “I mean, of course it’s nice in here.”

It was a simple single-sinked bathroom with a single shower and a single toilet, but it was clean and have a very nice theme of red and white that lance didn’t notice the first time he went in there.

“Hm. Let’s just get this thing over with, okay?”

“Yeah! Okay so do what I do.” Lance said, as he started to do his thing. First, he retrieved his phone and soon loud heavy metal music was blaring. After Lance set up his things, the song went off and Spanish music came on surprising Keith. Before Keith could question Lance’s playlist, Lance snapped at Keith to pay attention.

He rinsed his face off and grabbed a washcloth to wipe his face with the water. Then he lathered soap on his face and scrubbed his face clean with a different washcloth. Keith did the same.

“Okay so what kind of face mask do you want? The peel off or the wash off one? Actually, no. We’ll just do both.” Lance then proceeded to pull out four bottles of face masks and two packets of night masks.

“Do you do this every day?” Keith asked as he slathered his face with the peel off mask. Lance used a different one.

“No. I do this like once a week. I was going to do this today anyway.” Lance responded as he went back into the living room and sat on a pillow that Keith dug out of a closet somewhere.

Keith joined him and sat facing Lance.

“Have you ever done your nails before?” Lance asked as he pulled out three bottles nail polish, nail polish remover, a nail clipper, and a nail filer.

“No.”

“Okay, good. Well, not _good_. Your nails look _rough_.”

Keith smile as Lance took his hands and started to clip them.

“Don’t smile. It cracks the mask.” Lance scolded, glancing at Keith.

“Oh. Okay.”

Lance clipped and filed as Keith sat patiently watching. Then Lance pulled the two clear bottles of nail polish and a black nail polish.

The Cuban went over the Korean boy’s nails with the clear stuff and then fanned it dry.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, as Lance painted Keith’s nails black.

“Painting your nails. Obviously.”

“I mean, why?”

“Because I can?” Lance looked up at Keith before shaking his head. “You know, Mullet, you’re not very observative.”

“I-,” Keith tried to defend, but his drying face mask pulled on his skin.

“Alright! I’m done. Gorgeous right? You can tell all of your friends that yours truly did them.” Lance boasted as Keith looked at his plain black nails.

“I don’t have any friends.” Keith stopped and thought for a moment. “Well, other than Pidge, so I don’t know who I would tell.”

Lance blinked twice in surprise. ‘That was just depressing,’ Lance thought to himself.

“Anyway! These masks are dry. Let’s, uh, peel them off.” Lance said, to diffuse the awkward situation Keith inadvertently got them into.

Keith smiled and followed Lance to the bathroom.

 “Shit! Oh, wow. This hurt. Why does it hurt so much?” Keith said, eyes watering as Lance easily peeled his off, only momentarily wincing.

“Pull it off all at once.” Lance said, monotonously as Lance ripped off the bits that were still stuck to his skin.

Keith did what Lance said and shouted out in pain when it hurt. Only a little part came off.

The rest of it went like that and Lance laughed the whole time.

The second mask they did dried a lot faster than the first one. They washed it off.

After playing around, Lance splashed water on Keith’s shirt and pants soaking it to his skin. Keith grumbled off at Lance, who just laughed and splashed more at him.

“Alright I’m back.” Keith said after he changed into new clothes.

They were black joggers and a red crop-top sweatshirt. The joggers were low on his hips causing Lance’s gaze to travel to the washboard abs and trail of hair that disappeared under his waistband. ‘I wander where that goes,’ Lance thought as a small perverted smile made it’s way on his face.

“Holy shit, is that a tattoo?” Lance’s stare made its way to Keith’s hipbone.

Keith glanced down at the small tattoo that he forgot about. He had gotten it as soon as he turned eighteen and no one knew about it. Not even Pidge. Probably because regular jeans covered it and he always wore a shirt.

“Oh, uh, yeah. It says, ‘Be patient’ in Korean which is the closest thing to patience yields focus as I could get. Shiro used to say that all the time. I have four tattoos, but the others aren’t as meaningful.”

Lance nodded and continued to stare barely registering what Keith said. Keith’s stomach put his little belly to shame.

“Huh?” Lance said, looking back at Keith who was currently putting his hair in a pony tail, causing Lance’s mouth to dry a little. Keith had no right to look that gorgeous.

“I said, do you have a tattoo?” Keith repeated.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I only have one. It’s close to where yours is actually.” Lance then preceded to turn to the side and partially pull down his pants to where his tattoo rested on his hip.

“It’s Mama’s favorite saying, ‘Te golpearé’. It means I will hit you. And that’s also what Mama said as soon as she saw it too. I got it when I was sixteen from a really shady tattoo place in Cuba, but it turned out really well and it’s pretty. I was also drunk If that helps.”

“Yeah. I would have questioned your sanity if you got that while sober.” Keith snickered, sitting on the closed seat of the toilet. Keith was kind of tired, but he liked talking to Lance. He never talked like this to anyone, not even Pidge.

“Hey, close your eyes for a moment.” Lance said, as he rummaged around in his bag. “I’m going to pluck your eyebrows.”

“Wha-No! Nothing permanent.” Keith protested, raising his arms in defense.

“It’s not per-never mind. Fine. I’ll get them later.” Lance said. A large yawn erupted from Keith making Lance yawn too. Lance grabbed his phone and paused the music, checking the time.

“It’s two in the morning.” Lance said in surprise. “We should probably go to sleep.”

“Okay, go to my room.” Keith said starting to follow Lance to his room before realizing something. “Oh wait, Lance-,”

“Why is there only one bed?” Lance screeched.

“Oh, uh, yeah. This is a, um, one-bedroom apartment.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before? Honestly, I swear-,” Then Lance preceded to rant in Spanish, one of the only languages that Keith didn’t know.

Keith slid past Lance, who was cursing his name, and sat on the unmade bed.

“Lance.” Keith said, blinking slowly.

Lance continued to rant, not hearing Keith, as Keith’s head nodded almost throwing him off balance.

“Lance.” Keith said louder.

“No, you don’t get to speak. We could have been at my place, you on the couch and I could have been on the floor or _in my own bed_!”

“Lance, I’m tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?” Keith slurred, climbing underneath the covers.

“Wha-No!” Lance said, but his feet moved towards the bed.

“Hm.” Keith grunted as his eyes closed.

“Hmph. Fine, I guess I’ll just have to share this bed, but there will be no touching. Not an inch. You will stay as far away from me as you possibly can. Just because I happen to like guys doesn’t mean I like you.” Lance declared, slithering underneath the covers and shoving Keith over to the other side of the bed.

“Do you hear me? Don’t you move an inch.” Lance threatened, as Keith rearranged himself in his sleep. “I’m watching you Kogane. That’s right, I know your last name. It was on the hospital paper. Also, that doctor said it. And I know where you live.” Lance continued, putting on his eye mask and getting comfortable.

“Don’t you dare touch me.” Lance murmured as he fell asleep.

The next morning, Lance was warm. Comfortably warm and pressed up against something firm.

“Hmm.” He murmured, pressing closer but he felt his body heater shift and a huff somewhere near his ear.

“Mmh?” Lance was confused and moved his one mobile arm to shift the eye mask off of his face.

He was on top of an Asian boy, who’s strangely purple eyes weren’t looking at him, face the color of a firetruck.

Lance’s legs were wrapped around the other’s legs, trapping him in Lance’s grip. Lance’s pelvis was pressed against the man’s hip and one of his arms were wrapped around the black-haired man’s neck with Lance’s entire torso against him.

Then everything came flooding back to Lance and he tried to sit up, but only managed to smack Keith’s chin with his head.

“Ack!” They both exclaimed as Lance scrambled to sit up and, once again, grinded against Keith who moaned in surprise.

Lance’s heart practically stopped in his chest before beating about, I don’t know, four hundred beats per second (just kidding, he would be dead, but his heart was thundering in his chest).

Lance’s face turned a very nice shade of embarrassment and stiffened up, not realizing he settled down. Then, Keith’s hips jerked upwards involuntarily. Keith’s heart, and breathing, _stopped_.

The both froze for a second before Keith face became a blotchy red.

“God!” Keith exclaimed, jumping from under Lance and staggering to the bathroom before slamming the bathroom door and the door locked. “I’m going to kill myself!” Keith shouted, tears springing up in his eyes.

He slid against the door and put his hands in his head. Keith took a shaky breath as he glared at the very evident tent in his pants.

“You’ve betrayed me,” He sniffled, raking a hand through his hair.

Meanwhile, Lance was freaking out.

“I-oh my god! Keith is going to-he just- we-oh my god!” Lance frantically paced the room, before slamming his pinky toe into the side of Keith’s bed frame.

“Fucking quiznack!” Lance screamed, falling to the ground and cupping his foot in his hand.

Keith heard Lance’s scream but stayed in the bathroom thinking that it was because of him.

“I’m a mess,” Lance said to himself as he squeezed his eyes shut from the pain.

“I’m a mess,” Keith said, as he glanced at his softening…never mind.


	4. Wasted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. *nervous laughter* Well. This is awkward. I'm sorry to my singular loyal Kudos giver. I was being a butt. Enjoy! I'll be back in three to five business months.

When Keith came out of the bathroom, Lance, and all of his belongings, were gone. He just straight up disappeared. And it stayed like that. For weeks.

Kolivan had postponed the plan because there was a new shipment that Pidge had found was coming. It was expensive and they had to modify the plan.

So, Keith didn’t go to Voltron. He went to class, then work, then the warehouse, then home. Then he repeated it all over again, never getting more than four hours of sleep. Keith was dead on his feet.

Keith was sitting against the wall in the warehouse when Acxa sat down next to him.

“You wanna get a drink?”

Keith’s gaze slid over to her. Keith had thought that Acxa was his sister when he first found his mom all those years ago. They looked really similar; both Korean, slim faces, similar colored eyes. Acxa was older than him, though. By less than a year, so it wouldn’t have made sense.

Acxa looked at him expectantly, her face a little pinker than before.

‘Maybe it’s the heat,’ Keith thought.

“Sure.”

And that’s how Keith ended up in this situation. They went to a bar that was filled to the brim with college students. And they were both drunk.

“Keith. I like you,” Acxa slurred after downing her seventh shot.

Keith had sipped second shot and was already feeling reckless, so he downed three more.

“I like you too,” Keith swayed on his feet before looking Acxa in the eye. “I’m gonna go make out with someone.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion, but Keith stumbled off and found the first guy he could see. It was a huge jock. The All-American type.

“You gay?” Keith slurred, to which the jock flushed and looked away. Score.

Keith flung himself forward and kissed the jock.

“Me too!” He sang and kissed the guy harder. The jock, who mumbled that he was Chad, kissed Keith fiercely.

The people around Chad and Keith cheered and they were promptly jostled away from each other and smack into other people. And the universe decided to say, fuck you, and Keith fell into Lance.

“Keith?!” Lance exclaimed, holding him at arm’s length.

“Lance!” He exclaimed gleefully. “I made out with Chad.” Keith tried to stage whisper but ended up just talking louder than normal.

“Who? Chad?” Lance looked around the room and saw the buff, blond Chad getting pats on the back. “S _traight as a ruler, Chad_?” Lance almost shouted.

Keith laughed breathily into Lance’s ear. “Not anymore.” Keith stuck his tongue out, grinning like the Joker.

“Are you _drunk_?”

“Maybe,” Keith shrugged, pulling Lance towards him.

“How many drink’s did you have?”

“Five shots. Ac-Acxa, gave them to me.”

“You’ve had five and you’re already acting like this? Who’s Acxa?”

Keith shrugged, before looking towards the bar and pointing. He pointed to a girl with sheared periwinkle hair and wearing tight leather pants.

“So, you don’t know her?”

“I do.” And Keith left it at that and toddled over to Acxa who was sitting surrounded by empty glasses and staring down at a glass of something murky.

“Acxa!”

Acxa immediately looked up and pouted.

“Keith? You said you liked me and then just walked off,” Acxa said, with watery eyes before she saw Lance and her expression hardened. “Who are you?”

“I’m, um, a friend, I think?”

“You think?” Acxa stood up, but not before downing the rest of her drink. “Let go. I need to get him home.”

“No,” Keith suddenly piped up. “I want to make out with someone. I want sex.”

Lance and Acxa both flushed.

“I, um,” Acxa started off, biting her lip. “I can give you that.”

Keith rolled his eyes and pointed at himself.

“I’m gay. I want to pound and be pounded,” Keith pushed off of Lance, stumbling against the bar, and scanned the crowd. “Where’s Chad? He-He’ll be down.”

Then three things happened at once. Keith promptly passed out, Acxa burst into tears, and Lance.exe. stopped computing.

When Keith woke up the next morning, his head was pounding.

“What the fuck?” He groaned, scratching his head. He groaned and tried to run to his bathroom but found out he was in a vaguely familiar setting and threw up on himself and the floor.

“Keith?” Lance called, opening the door.

“Shut up. Where am I?”

Lance bent down and took in Keith’s vomit covered naked torso and the bags underneath his eyes and sighed.

“You’re a mess.”

“No shit, Sherlock. I need a shower. Do you—”

“Have a shower? Yes, actually. I do take showers, if you couldn’t tell, Lance said with a grin too bright for that early in the morning.

“I was going to say, do you have a painkiller and water?” Keith paused. “Why am I here?”

Lance smiled and helped Keith off of the floor.

“Shower first.”

Keith grumbled to himself as he stripped right then and there, not giving a quiznack. He felt nauseous and dizzy and sweaty and his head hurt. A little nudity wouldn’t kill anyone.

“W- _What are you doing?!_ ” Lance shouted, spinning around.

Or maybe it would.

“Taking a shower, dumbass.”

“I mean, why are you _stripping in front of me_?!”

“What part of ‘I’m taking a shower’ do you not understand?” Keith glanced back at Lance before shaking his head and walking to the bathroom.

Keith frowned as he looked at himself in the mirror. Scars covered his thighs and his hips. Bruises were on his hips strangely enough. He also had vomit on his chest. He shrugged. What could you do when you’re hungover in someone else’s house?

Keith climbed into the shower, letting the events from last night and this morning wash off of him. The hot water helped clear his head and relax him a bit. He rinsed out his mouth.

“I’m never drinking again,” Keith groaned, putting his head against the cold tile. He took a deep breath and picked up the first thing he saw, which was a very fruity smelling shampoo. So, he washed his hair, face, and body with it. Then rubbed some conditioner in his hair. He usually just got a three-in-one, so he wouldn’t have to spend so much money, but he was feeling special.

Keith waited a few more minutes before rinsing the conditioner out. Then he left the shower and dried off using a towel that was on a rack. It was probably Lance’s.

He left the bathroom and went to rummage around Lance’s drawers. He grabbed his, thankfully, clean underwear from the pile of his clothes on the floor. He had taken a shower before going to the warehouse.

Then he grabbed joggers from Lance’s drawer and a sweatshirt from the closet and set out.

“Lance,” Keith called, lethargic and in pain. He looked around and saw a hair tie on the stand of the tv. He pulled up his wet hair into a bun and pulled the hood over his head.

“Lance, I’m sore,” Keith called out louder, turning around and seeing Hunk, Pidge, and Lance all staring at him. “…oh.”

Pidge’s eyes grew to the size of dinnerplates and a gleeful, sinister grin made it’s way on her face.

“That’s where that hickey came from!” She shrieked, cackling.

“Hickey?” Keith’s eyebrows rose, and he looked at Lance, who did indeed have a hickey on his neck close to his collarbone. “Did I do that? Did we have sex?”

“No!” Lance cried out, indignantly. “You were too wasted anyway.” Lance had grumbled the last part under his breath, but Keith still heard it. Keith flushed a little but kept his face impassive as he moved around to the cupboards to grab a glass of water.

“Here.” Lance held out a glass of water and dropped some pills into Keith’s hand.

Keith grunted in acknowledgement as he dry-swallowed the pills, then followed it with water.

Keith sat down at the table and pursed his lips.

“So….”

“So…,” Lance replied, awkwardly.

“Well! We have a something to do at the place where the something is,” Pidge blurted, saving then from more awkwardness, then she grabbed Hunk’s arm and shoved him out of the door, with a wry comment of “Use protection!”

Lance and Keith looked at each other in shock before laughing. They laughed for a while both wheezing for air.

“Okay, then,” Keith said, getting the last few of his giggles out. “So, I’m hungry and still kind of hungover. Should we go out or…?”

“Oh, no. I can cook. Just stay seated and I’ll whip something up.”

Keith blinked, before looking down and worrying his lip between his teeth. He couldn’t remember the last time someone cooked for him. Maybe his dad?

“Okay so saying I can cook is kind of a stretch. This is just fried eggs and café con leche, which is literally coffee with milk. I mean I can make tamales and ropa vieja and waffles and pancakes, but that’s about it,” Lance said, putting down the eggs in front of Keith.

“My dad could barely cook either. He could only make eggs and a few Korean dishes.”

“Oh,” Lance sat next to Keith digging into his own meal. “He’s Korean, then?

“No, actually. He’s, um, he _was_ a Texas man. Like, from a long line of Texan cowboys.”

“Dios mío! That’s what it was! You had an accent last night and it was really thick too and I couldn’t figure out what it was!”

“Oh yeah. I’m a Texas-born half-Korean.”

Lance laughed into his eggs. Keith smiled, taking a sip of his coffee.

“So, last night. I went out drinking, then gave you a hickey. What happened between that?”

“Oh, um. Well, you were wasted when I found you at the bar last night. You said you made out with Chad, who was apparently not as straight as I thought, even though he’s like Mr. Straight. I’m actually kind of disappointed because I flirted with him plenty of times and he never did anything.”

Keith blinked.

“I _what_?! I made out with someone?”

Lance nodded. “That’s not even all you said. So, you came out to some Alex chick who was so super interested in you.”

“Acxa?”

“Yeah. Anyway,” Lance continued, amused at the growing horror on Keith’s face. “You said, and I quote, ‘I’m gay. I want to pound and be pounded.’ Then you passed out and Acxa? Is that right? Acxa? Well, she cried, so I called her an Uber and I took you here. Then you woke up, tried to strip, and, um, get me to have sex with you.”

“Did we?” Keith said, not really concerned.

“No! I told you earlier!”

“Okay! I was just wondering. I mean, it happens, you know. Sometimes you get wasted and you end up in someone’s bed.” Keith kind of shrugged, like it was no big deal, but Lance was a little worried.

“Does that happen often?” Keith looked up at Lance, alarmed at the soft look in his eyes.

“I-I don’t know. I’m a lightweight, so I don’t go out much,” Keith’s brows furrowed. “What else happened?”

“Um, you couldn’t get your pants off, almost started crying, then pulled off my shirt and gave me this,” Lance said, pointing to his neck.

“Oh,” Keith’s face was tomato red. “Anything else?”

“You tried to get my pants off too, but you passed out before you could get too far.”

Lance and Keith both just sat, sipping their lukewarm coffees, with blushes on their faces.

‘Well. This isn’t awkward,’ Lance thought, avoiding eye contact, fully aware that Keith was doing the exact same thing.


End file.
